Amazon acquires Goodreads social network site

Amazon has acquired the popular Goodreads social network site and its mobile apps and plans to infuse its Kindle range with the book recommendations service.

Established in 2007, the Goodreads social network has more than 16 million members and is one of the most prominent and well-established online communities for book lovers.

“Amazon and Goodreads share a passion for reinventing reading,” said Russ Grandinetti, Amazon Vice President for Kindle Content. “Goodreads has helped change how we discover and discuss books and, with Kindle, Amazon has helped expand reading around the world. In addition, both Amazon and Goodreads have helped thousands of authors reach a wider audience and make a better living at their craft.”

The deal is expected to complete sometime in the next quarter, and the financial details of the new partnership have not been disclosed.

“I’m incredibly excited about the opportunity to partner with Amazon and Kindle,” said Goodreads CEO and co-founder Otis Chandler. “We’re now going to be able to move faster in bringing the Goodreads experience to millions of readers around the world.”

The Goodreads site allows readers to recommend, review, comment on and discover books, as well as purchasing them from online retailers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Already generating more than 23 million reviews, Chandler was quick to confirm that the Goodreads site will not be disappearing or become a Kindle exclusive service.

“It’s important to be clear that Goodreads and the awesome team behind it are not going away. Goodreads will continue to be the wonderful community that we all cherish,” added Chandler on the Goodreads blog. “We plan to continue offering you everything that you love about the site – the ability to track what you read, discover great books, discuss and share them with fellow book lovers, and connect directly with your favourite authors – and your reviews and ratings will remain here on Goodreads.”

The active Goodreads community has added more than four books per second to the “want to read” shelf of the site in the past 90 days alone, and should be a useful integration into Amazon’s eReader range which includes the Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite and Kindle Fire HD tablet.

“For all you Kindle readers, there’s obviously an extra bonus in this announcement. You’ve asked us for a long time to be able to integrate your Kindle and Goodreads experiences. Making that option a reality is one of our top priorities,” added Chandler.

Have you been using the Goodreads social networking site dedicated to bookworms? Are you pleased to hear that it will be making its way into the Amazon Kindle range? Let us know via the TrustedReviews Facebook and Twitter pages or the comments section below.